Thanks
by leroyjenkinsthe45th
Summary: The ideal way that Ash and Serena meet, in my opinion. R
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

The only bad thing about living in Pallet Town is that everybody knows everybody. So when word got out that I was coming back from Unova I'm pretty sure my Mom's heart skipped a beat.

It all happened on a Tuesday, I had just finished my last journey from Unova and was coming home to check on Mom before I decided to make a decision on where or what I was going to do next. I had Pickachu on my shoulder and a couple of pokeballs in my pockets, No Pokemon were in them of course. I had a green hat on, for a surprising change.

It took forever to get back home. Between shipriding and walking I was exhausted. So it came to no surprise that I felt a surge of energy whenever I finally saw my house. I started to Sprint toward it like I had never had been in my own house before, when I finally reached the door I turned the knob and walked in.

"Mom." No reply. _Surely my Mom knew that I was coming_ home?

I scanned the house. _Not even Mr. Mime is here._

"Hello?" I paused. Nothing.

"Suprise!" All of my friends from Pallet Town jumped out of their hiding places.

"Welcome back Ash!"

I looked up and saw a giant Welcome Home banner.

I dropped my jaw. "Wow guys, you really went all out this time."

Mom walked across the room to give me a hug. "I'm just glad your home."

Professor Oak walked over and put a hand on my shoulder, "Good to have you back, Ash."

I gave professor a warm hug and turned around to see Misty and Tracy.

"Hey guys, Misty I didn't expect you to be here."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I wouldn't let you take off on another journey without giving you a level head."

Tracy head popped over Misty's shoulder. "And I wouldn't let you take off on another journey without looking at some of my sketches."

He walked up to me and handed me his sketchpad. "Feel free to look through look it", then he put his hand on his head and started to rub his hair. "with the exception of my Officer Jenny drawings."

I smirked, "Of course." I started to flip through pages, most of them were really good, Tracy could make a Magikarp look beautiful with paper and pencil.

Halfway through it I stopped. I turned around to Tracy, who was conversing with Misty. "Hey Tracy."

He turned his head and looked at me. "What is it."

"Come over here."

He walked over and peered over my shoulder to look at the scratchpad.

"Who is this, Tracy."

The girl we were looking at had long dark-blondish hair with a straw cap on, she was setting on a swingset.

Tracy put a finger on his lips. "Ummm... I don't remember. Why?"

"She looks familiar."

"Everyone looks familiar to you Ash."

"Good point."

Later on in the day everyone had gathered around the table to eat dinner.

"Really guys this means a lot."

Mom put down her fork, "Anything for my Ash."

I nodded my head and went back to eating, but really that wasn't what I was thinking about. Tracy's sketch was still bothering me, that girl looked... familiar.

"Excuse me." I got up from the table and took a sarcastic bow. "I really appreciate everyone coming over here to surprise me, but I'm beat from all the travelling. I think I'm going to take a shower and go to sleep."

Later that night

I decided to go through some of my old pictures. _I think I upset Mom when I decided to leave dinner early... oh_ well.

She will probably won't even remember it by tomorrow...

The only time ever spent digging through old pictures is when I return home. I looked at a picture at the top of the first page. _That's me, Misty, Brock, Mom, and a younger looking professor_ Oak.

I turned the page. "That's me, Max, and May." Whispering barely loud enough for even me to hear. I looked at May, _that's the first time I ever had to mentor someone._

Skipping through a couple of pages I found a picture of Dawn and Pikachu. _Didn't take long for those two to become friends..._

Then I found a picture of Iris and Cilan, I rolled my eyes and turned to the next page.

The last page of the book was wrinkled and clearly older than the rest of the pictures. I was in the middle of a giant group of kids accompanied by professor Oak.

_This really looks familiar. Come on Ash think, Oak, kids, outdoors...camp!_

It was a pokemon camp. "Well that brings back a lot of memories."

"Memories of what?"

I screamed and fell off the side of my bed. "What are you doing?"

Tracy looked embarrassed, "Sorry." He pulled out a pokeball with green rings at the top of it. "I was just going to give this to you before I leave, it's a new pokeball called the ring ball. It's supposed to help catch any kind of pokemon that's not in its original form. In other words it helps you catch shiny pokemon. Anyway, professor Oak made it himself, I thought you might want it before you start another journey."

I took the ball from Tracy and examined it by spinning it around with my fingers. "Wow, thanks Tracy. This is awesome, I just wish I had something to give back to you in return..."

"Don't worry about it, just be sure to bring back some new pokemon so I can sketch them."

"No problem."

"Thanks." He walked over to the picture book laying on my bed, then pointed. "That's the girl I sketched, just a lot... younger."

I stood beside Tracy to look at the photo. Right beside me was the girl, with what appeared to be a towl around her knee. "Yeah... it is."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still don't own pokemon. Also, part of this chapter includes edited parts of an actual pokemon episode.

"Pickachu!" Pickachu tugged on my bed covers

I turned the other direction. "Be quiet Pickachu, I'm trying to sleep."

Silence. _Well that worked._

"PICKACHUU!"

Pickachu's thunderbolt shot me straight up and out of bed. "Okay, okay."

I got up and changed clothes. This time I decided to put on my original hat instead of the green one. Then I packed my bag with everything that I needed for a fresh new start on my journey. I checked my bag, Misty's_ lure, check. Brock's napkin, check. Underwear, better not forget that one._

After I was finished packing I went downstairs to break the news to Mom.

I walked down the steps and waited by the first one. "Mom!"

"Yes, Ash?" Voice sounded like it came from the kitchen.

"Hey Mom, I think I'm going to leave today."

Mom's head popped from out of the kitchen. "Oh really?"

She looked disappointed.

"Yeah, I'm going to say bye to everyone then start back up on a new journey."

"Where are you going? Who's going with you? Are you wearing fresh underwear." Mom paused. "I'm sorry, I just didn't expect you to be leaving so soon."

For just a second I thought about staying longer. " I know Mom, I'm not ready to relax yet, I'm ready for adventure."

Mom gave me a hug. "Be careful, and be sure to always wear clean underwear."

"I know Mom, I know."

The walk to professor Oak's lab was filled with silence. Me and Pickachu had come across a dilemma, we had no one to travel with.

When we got to the lab I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

After a couple of moments the door opened.

It was Tracy.

"Hey Ash."

"Hey Tracy." I looked over his shoulder. "Is professor Oak here?"

He froze for a minute. "I think... he left to go run an errand. Although I'm not for sure."

"Don't worry about it, just tell him that I'm leaving."

"Your leaving? Where to now?"

"I've being doing some research, I think I've decided to go to the Kalos region."

"Research? That is very un-Ash like." He put out his hand. "Have fun."

I shook his hand. "Take care Tracy."

Later in the day

Me and Pickachu took route 101.

"Pickachu, I think I have everything figured out."

"Pika?"

I looked down toward Pickachu while walking, "Were going to Vermillion city first. That way we can catch a shipride to Kalos."

Pickachu nodded his head. "Pika."

Later-Later in the day

Around mid-afternoon I put down my backpack. "Pickachu, it's time to rest."

I don't think he heard me, he was too busy playing with a old bottle of ketchup he found in the woods.

I shook my head and walked to the nearby lake to fill my cantine with water.

"Thump!"

I turned around. A girl was layed out on the ground facefirst.

"Umm, are you okay?"

She shook her head and got up. "Yeah, I'm fine." When we hit eye contact she turned away.

I looked at her face. "You look familiar."

She turned around to face me again. "So do you."

"Do you live around here?"

"Why are you asking."

I put my hand on my chin. "I think we've met before, do you remember going to a summer camp under professor Oak."

"Yes. You saved me." She blurted out.

"I did what."

She looked at me. "You don't remember."

I shook my head.

"I fell and hurt my leg, but you found me and helped me get out of the forest."

She pulled out a towl. "Remember this?"

Flashback

I was chasing a poliwag. Pushing brushes aside as I tried to get hold of it. My feet were soar and I was tired, but I was not letting it get away.

Suddenly, poliwag jumped into a clearing. Poliwag took a quick cut and I wasn't fast enough to catch up.

"Help."

I looked over. There was a girl laying beside a tree.

"Are you okay?"

"My leg hurts."

She really did look like she was in major pain._ Think fast Ash._ I pulled out a towel and wrapped it around her knee. "Feel better."

"No."

"Let me see if I can help you up." I picked her up bridal style, taking her back to camp.

Flashback ends

"Yeah! I do remember, looking back on it now that probably wasn't a good idea. I should have left to go get help."

She smiled. "Nah. I don't think I would have made in the woods by myself much longer."

We both laughed.

I put out my hand. "It's good to see you again. My name's Ash."

She walked over and shook my hand. "I'm Serena." Serena dusted the dirt off of her pants. "Oh, and to answer your question. I'm not from around here. I from the Kalos region."

Serena was staring at me intently. "Why are you smiling?"

"That's where I'm going."

"Right now?"

"Yep, me and Pickachu are going to Vermillion city to catch the next cruise there."

She looked Suprise. "That's where I'm going, I have family Veridian city. I was just visiting."

"You can come with me."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, me and Pikachu need company."

She blew a sigh of relief. "Good, the idea of going to Vermillion by myself is terrifying. It's bad enough traveling by myself once."

I smiled. "Me and Pickachu do it all the time."

"Where is this Pickachu you keep speaking of?"

That night

I set out my sleeping bag across from the fire that me and Pickachu made. On the other side Serena had layed out her sleeping bag and was getting ready to go to bed as well.

"Hey Serena, if your ready to go to sleep I'm going to put out this fire."

She turned around her from here she was searching through her backpack. "Yeah, just let me close my backpack."

After she was finished with her backpack I grabbed my bucket of water and put out the fire. _I definitely need to catch some new Pokemon._

I got into my warm sleeping bag. "Goodnight Serena."

"Goodnight." I heard her call from the other side of the clearing. "Oh, and Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."


End file.
